Winter Memories
by Andrei - ddrhckrzz
Summary: Jaune Arc expected many things from Beacon Academy, but if there was one thing he didn't expect from it—was finding himself inexplicably attracted to a certain white haired girl, Weiss Schnee. The more he tries to understand it, the more he's confused about it—with all the odd dreams and memories that came with it. Things take an odd turn, however, when Winter Schnee appears.
1. Dream (1)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 1 - Dream (1)**

* * *

 **Part 1 Summary:**

Jaune Arc expected many things from Beacon Academy, but if there was one thing he didn't expect from it—was finding himself inexplicably attracted to a certain white haired girl, Weiss Schnee. The more he tries to understand it, the more he's confused about it—with all the odd dreams and memories that came with it. Things take an odd turn, however, when Winter Schnee appears.

* * *

Snow. Everything around him, white, only difference being the trees and the Grimm. He knew this place, he was familiar with this. He'd been here many times before after all with his partner.

A growl from behind and he was already in the air—barely dodging the flock of Grimm around him. Beowolves—no, something worse, something… different. He was familiar with them, but he couldn't remember.

Familiarity.

He unsheathed his blade and pulled out a pistol from his pocket, shooting at the Grimm as he fell and cutting down those which attempted to bring him down as he landed. He then turned towards the side and heard footsteps come towards him. Revealing a woman wearing an outfit similar to him. It had something to do with ranking—he couldn't quite remember.

The woman smiled, her white hair and light blue eyes radiating through the snow. "Good job, Specialist Arc. I suppose with this we'd be able to finish this mission in no time, don't you think?"

That voice… he could…

"You want to hear a story, Jaune?" her voice… the soft yet firm voice that guided him. His vision faded to white, and everything around him disappeared.

Everything but her.

He couldn't see her face clearly—he couldn't remember—but knew that she had fair skin, white hair, and sky blue eyes. He tried to walk forward, to grasp that memory.

But it only faded.

It kept fading.

"A story… about the man I love…" her voice—it was fading too.

He got more desperate, running towards her, trying to do everything to not let go. To not let it slip away.

"Jaune… remember me…" she asked, voice nearly breaking.

He screamed, reaching out towards her—

But he felt nothing.

He only fell to darkness.

* * *

Jaune awoke with a gasp, looking around frantically for a moment before he managed to calm himself down.

Again. This happened quite a lot didn't it?

He sighed, lying back down on his bedroll as he remained silent for everyone else still sleeping in the ballroom.

He checked his scroll, opening it up to see that the time was still three AM. He shook his head, pocketing it once more and closing his eyes as he lied down.

White hair, sky blue eyes… why did that seem so familiar?

He remembered a face. Weiss Schnee… ah, right, the girl he'd met just yesterday. Right, he'd kind of annoyed her yesterday, so he should probably apologize about that. Still, he had to wonder, what was it about these odd dreams that pushed him towards her…?

It's not that he liked her. Sure, he found her attractive, in a very odd manner, but…

Jaune groaned, shaking his head as he sat up, and, seeing as it was already morning, he got cleaned up and headed for the locker rooms.

Weiss Schnee.

There was something about her, something he couldn't quite point out. She reminded him of the woman in his dreams - his first thought was that they were one and the same. But even that didn't feel right.

He wondered why it was so specific though. If the eyes and hair were the most prominent features, then he'd know he was dreaming about Weiss. But there was something more to it.

Something he just... couldn't remember.

He hated it.

Eventually, he groaned and just decided to go do some weapon maintenance, seeing as he was already here anyways.

It still nagged at him though. It always did.

* * *

Breakfast. He wouldn't question the familiarity of that, at least.

Though, right now, all he could really get was coffee. Jaune looked around the cafeteria, seeing that most of the food was still being cooked. He hummed as he got a cup, filling it before plopping into one of the seats of a lone table.

He smiled, closing his eyes and inhaling the sweet aroma of the pure black coffee. When his eyes opened again, he barely contained a jump. Cold, judging eyes looked into his from across the table and Jaune sighed with a shake of his head.

Weiss raised a brow, "Black?"

Jaune blinked at that before shrugging. "Yeah, it's what I'm used to."

Weiss hummed, looking up at him for a moment before going back to her coffee, most likely with cream and sugar due to its white coloring. "I see…"

A tick.

Jaune frowned, finding it odd that she had been the one to speak first. He looked down to his coffee, sipping it for a moment, before looking at Weiss again.

Not much of a morning person, he supposed…

Still, he felt rather guilty for being silent, so he spoke. "I… uh, I'm sorry for yesterday by the way. Didn't mean to annoy you or anything."

Weiss blinked and looked up at him. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I kind of just butted into the conversation and all that. I—"

"Don't worry about it," she replied, "At least you actually apologized."

"Ah…" he murmured, looking down to his cup again as silence overtook them.

He stared at his reflection—the reflection which came off of the coffee seemed to be that of someone else. Someone that looked like him, maybe, but being far from him at the same time.

Another tick.

Before Jaune could lose himself in thought, Weiss spoke, "You seem rather early."

That made him look up at her with a raised brow, but he sighed as he saw that she was preoccupied by her own cup of coffee. "I guess I am. I don't sleep that great.."

"Nightmares?" she asked, looking up at him for a moment.

Jaune just shrugged, "Not sure. But with how they always seem to make me wake up rather abruptly…"

Weiss hummed, "I see."

Jaune, feeling the silence descend on them again, decided to ask her in turn, "How about you? I wouldn't think you would be awake this early all the time."

Weiss chuckled at that, "With the noise last night? I highly doubt it. But, I suppose, it's more of me just not being used to being in a new environment here in Vale." she shrugged,

Jaune nodded at that, "I see. Guess you're not from Vale then?"

"No…" Weiss answered slowly,, she then narrowed her eyes, "So… you don't know me?"

Jaune's eyes widened, "W-wait, do we know each other or something? Because I don't seem to remember…"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "No, it's not that, you dolt. I definitely haven't met you before. I was more asking if you knew of my family, the Schnee."

"The… Schnee? Oh! Right, you guys are in Atlas aren't you? I think I can understand not being used to here. It's not as cold as Atlas after all…"

Weiss just seemed to look at him with a deadpan for a few seconds, making him scratch the back of his head nervously as he looked away. He didn't do something wrong, did he?

Then again… he'd been called out multiple times for being clueless about the most obvious of things. It only felt weirder now that he sat in front of a beautiful girl and made a fool of himself.

He sighed and looked back down to his cup of coffee, absently stirring it. Why was he here again? It was for some… something, he supposed. His family legacy, sure, but there was something more than that which he'd somehow forgotten.

He'd been forgetting a lot of things lately. Or maybe he'd just noticed it?

"That's rather surprising to know…" Weiss mumbled,. "Your family don't use Dust?"

Jaune frowned, when he actually thought about it… "Surprisingly enough… no, not really. I guess that's why I don't really know you guys."

"I see." Weiss nodded,

Jaune just stared, watching her movements. Refined and proper… ah, these guys must be the family his dad was talking about. Her eyes met his and he looked away in a hurry, focusing back on his drink.

The clock slowly ticked away, making Jaune feel more and more nervous by the second.

In the end, however, Jaune just settled for sighing, "Sorry, I'm probably a lot dumber than what you'd expect here in Beacon."

Weiss paused at that, raising a brow at him to continue.

So he did, "There's just a lot of seemingly obvious things I don't know, honestly. Oblivious is probably one way to put it, but I don't know, I probably didn't even do well in the written exam. So… that's that, I suppose. I'm just going to say sorry now in case I ask a lot of dumb questions later on."

Weiss blinked, seemingly surprised, a brief twitch of a smile appearing on her face before turning back to that stoic frown of hers. Regardless, she nodded while letting out a small breath. "Better now than never, I suppose."

"Yeah. Those are nice words to live by." Jaune said, nodding, before turning to look at the early morning rays of sunlight come down through the windows.

He smiled, turning to look at Weiss and seeing her small smile as she watched the sun start to light up the cafeteria.

He felt something then.

She… Weiss was beautiful. Beautiful in her actions, he supposed, he wasn't really sure how to explain it, maybe her looks? There was an air around her that just pulled him in, but he still wasn't sure if she was what he was looking for…

That being said… he wouldn't just waste an opportunity like this. There was a certain attraction that he felt to her—something which he felt went beyond romantic… he didn't know exactly, and he doubt he ever would know, but he would try to understand it.

Understand just what it was about Weiss Schnee that made him want to love her beyond all comprehension.

* * *

 **A/N: Just like my other story... this is not quite as normal as you think.**


	2. Dream (2)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 2 - Dream (2)**

* * *

Jaune hummed a tune as he looked over the equipment in his lockers. Crocea Mors, his armor, fingerless gloves, and some shoulder/arm guards.

Oh how he wished he had a ranged weapon… But, he could only dream.

For now, that is.

He heard the sound of the locker beside him opening, a girl with a long red ponytail gave him a small smile and greeted him. "Morning."

Jaune nodded, greeting her back before going back to equipping his gear. He slid on his armor with ease, flourishing Crocea Mors to refresh his feeling for it. Clicking the button on his sheath, he grinned as it popped open into the shield.

Jaune smiled at that, sheathing Crocea Mors to his side again. Doing it all in just a few seconds—something he felt he'd practiced for years, but not actually recalling any of it.

"A sword and shield… quite simplistic." Jaune blinked and turned to see the girl beside him observing, "You made it yourself?"

"Ha, no. I would have to be a genius and a rich man to have made something as sturdy and weird as this. Crocea Mors is a family heirloom, for all that it looks simplistic, it doesn't exactly have the easiest materials to work with in creating it." Jaune said, chuckling,

"And if I were to make one, I'd have probably made some sort of gun or something. That is, if I even succeeded in creating it at all." he shrugged, smiling as she chuckled.

"Yeah… anyways, I don't think I've met you before—I'm Jaune Arc." he said, offering a hand for her to shake.

She smiled and shook it, "Pyrrha Nikos, nice to meet you Jaune."

"Nice to meet you, Pyrrha! Also, I just realized that you were that girl in the pumpkin pete cereal box, I love that cereal."

Pyrrha laughed, "I see, though the cereal isn't too healthy for you."

Jaune shrugged and waved his hand, "Eh, it still tastes good to me. Anything that tastes good is good in my eyes. Though I definitely wouldn't overeat it. Too much good is bad." he said, before looking to the weapons she held in her hands. "Sword and shield? Nice. Though I guess it's a gun too, right?"

"Yes, a rifle to be more precise." Pyrrha said, before transforming her sword to become a rifle. "Lastly, it can become a javelin. That's all, really. My shield's less fancy than what you have."

Jaune chuckled, "Sure, but you have a sick sword/rifle/javelin combo. What's it called?"

"Well, my sword-rifle-javelin is called Miló, while my shield is Akoúo̱." Pyrrha said.

He nodded at it, "Interesting… Speak and listen huh? Pretty cool."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at that, before she blinked and shook her head, "I doubt it, yellow death seems to be a better name to me."

Jaune laughed, shaking his head, "I didn't think anyone would actually catch that."

"Neither did I. You're familiar with the old tongue?"

Jaune shrugged, "A bit, though not quite as fluent as my sister."

Pyrrha nodded at that, "I see." she said, and before she could continue talking with him, the clicking of heels made its way towards them, making them turn around to see Weiss.

Pyrrha smiled at her, "Good morning, Weiss."

Jaune waved at Weiss, "Hello again." he said with a smile.

Weiss just nodded at the two of them before raising a brow at Jaune. "I'm guessing you're not too familiar with her either?"

"Other than her being a cereal mascot? Nope." Jaune shrugged. "Like I said, I'm a bit oblivious."

Weiss hummed, glancing at Pyrrha for a moment, before turning back to him. "So you probably don't know how teams are formed either…"

Jaune just smiled and scratched the back of his head, "No, I don't, sorry."

"I understand, I doubt anyone knows about it anyway." Weiss said, before looking to Pyrrha and talking to her about teaming up.

Jaune just watched as they talked, not really interested in the topic, but more just focusing on Weiss. She was so… proper and business-like. It should have pushed him away, honestly, but somehow it only made her more interesting to him. At least, that's because he could see that this really is just how she was.

Eventually though, he headed off on his own, feeling a little out of place in their conversation.

That, and a bit antsy.

Before he could go out of the locker rooms, however, he heard his name called out—specifically by Weiss.

"Yes?" he replied.

Weiss frowned, "I was going to ask you if you were interested in joining a team with us."

Ah, he chuckled and shrugged, "Well, I would, but… since we don't really know how the teams are going to be determined, I'm just going to see what happens. Good luck to you two though. See you guys in Initiation."

"I see. Good luck then."

"Thanks." Jaune said, before heading to the Beacon Cliffs.

Really though, he just didn't want to get his own hopes up. After all, like his father said… its better to be safe than sorry.

* * *

Wind.

Jaune opened his eyes as he felt the ground come closer and closer, unsheathing his blade in time and driving it into a tree trunk, quickly sliding down as he carved his blade into it. When his feet hit the ground, he immediately searched the area for Grimm.

He frowned, staying cautious and alert as he surveyed the area around him, finding nothing so far.

Feeling nothing.

He let out a breath, and lowered his shield, looking around one more time before heading North.

Feeling. That was always how it was for him when he did things related to combat, especially when it revolved around his Aura. It was always instinctual—enough to the point that even his parents were surprised. They'd ask him where he'd learned all these techniques and styles with his sword, but he could never answer them, for not even he knew.

It wasn't always like this, of course. When he'd first taken up a sword, he was far from being a master. In fact, he was horrible at it. Was horrible at it for many years… until he unlocked his Aura, apparently.

In that one night when he found himself sleeping outside the house…

Presence.

Jaune nearly paused, instincts fighting each other as he tensed then calmed in a second. Eventually,, he made up his mind, and continued walking as though he hadn't felt anything.

That was another thing he found weird, a lot of what his body did seemed to be instinctual, but also not. It was like he had some muscle memory in him that conflicted with the way he was thinking. It confused him, but he was able to fight nonetheless.

Rustling.

It was still unclear to him. He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was that he was detecting yet. A Beowolf, most likely, but he couldn't be sure of how many there were… regardless, he prepared himself for a fight, knowing that they would come out and ambush him any moment.

Growling.

Jaune bent down, dodging a Beowolf that had been aiming for his head and cutting it down as he spun and raised his blade. Then, he brought uphis shield, bashing the Beowolf that was trying to ambush him from behind. Promptly, he cut the beast down, only to find that two more closed in from both sides.

His Aura flashed, and he smiled, feeling a sense of calm come upon him even as he quickly moved around, cutting down Beowolves left and right.

Contrary to how one would usually fight instinctually, how he fought was far from being wild and chaotic, instead, it felt almost practiced, perfected, calculated and done with finesse.

So, he supposed it only made sense why he'd been able to get such high marks in the physical exam for Beacon…

As he cut down more and more of the ambushing Beowolves, they started to back away—but he didn't stop, instead, he pushed his own assault towards them, turning the would be preadtors into his prey.

One particular Beowolf was farther than the other ones though, and as Jaune was about to give chase, he felt a presence from above.

Weiss Schnee.

The Beowolf didn't stand a chance, as Jaune expected. He found himself chuckling at that, walking towards her. "Like an angel that drops from above… thanks for the assist, Weiss."

Weiss rose from the ground where she'd plunged down her blade, her eyes turned to him.. For a few seconds, they just stared at each other, Jaune slowly feeling unnerved by it, eventually, she sighed. "I suppose we're partners now…"

Jaune could only shrug at, "Yeah, well, sorry for not being the one you expected or had planned in mind."

Weiss just rolled her eyes, "I suppose I'll have to live with it then. At least you're polite."

"Thanks… I guess?" Jaune said, not really knowing what to say, "So where do you think we should go? I wasn't able to get a clear view from above lately."

Weiss just glanced at him before walking towards a direction, "Northwest. I've spotted some ruins there, it might be close to where the relics are."

Jaune nodded at that, following her as she walked towards the ruins. "Got it."

As he followed her from behind, he felt a nagging feeling on the back of his mind that something wasn't right.

He shook his head. He was probably just overthinking things again.

Right?

* * *

 **A/N: That was fast. Except... not really.**

 **Thanks for the support so far, and uh, well. I can't really say what the pairing will be, just know that whoever it is, Weiss and Winter are still going to be very important in it. There'll be love for both sisters to go around. And... what exactly happened to Jaune is unknown as of now, so you can just speculate on what it is. I'll just say that it involves Winter somehow... somehow.**


	3. Dream (3)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 3 - Dream (3)**

* * *

Weiss wasn't quite sure how her plan had failed. It wasn't that she hadn't planned for other things to happened, it just seemed like the circumstances made it specifically hard for her and Pyrrha to partner up.

It wasn't all that bad, she supposed. She'd instead gotten Jaune Arc as a partner, which was, in her mind, a lot better than many other people she could have partnered up with already.

Better than that red hooded girl from yesterday.

"Four o'clock, Beowolves. Should we deal with them?" she heard her partner say, making her look to him once more, wondering how he was able to sense the Grimm so easily. Even weirder is how no one should be able to do that with Aura of all things, unless of course he exerted a small subtle pulse of Aura all the time to detect everything around him, but considering how he wasn't sure of how he was able to do it himself, it might be his Semblance.

Regardless, she looked back forward and continued walking ahead of him. "Let them come, we'll deal with them if we need to." she said. Although, she could also technically just take care of the Grimm following them with her summons, but she doubted expending so much Aura and exhausting herself early would be good.

They continued walking in silence and she found herself thinking back to the battle she'd seen of him lately. His actions… they were beautiful. Like that of a master swordsman, he fought in a calculated and precise manner, never letting an action go to waste. It, oddly enough, reminded her of her sister, Winter, who fought in a similar manner. It made her wonder…

She let out a small breath and glanced back at Jaune momentarily. She thought better of asking the question, but eventually her own curiosity got the better of her, and so she asked, "Jaune, where'd you learn that style of swordsmanship?"

"Hm?" Jaune blinked, raising a brow at her before she looked straight ahead once more. "Ah… to be honest I'm not really sure. I fight more instinctually more than anything, so I can't quite explain why I fight the way I do. It wasn't always like this though, but ever since my Aura was unlocked… this was how I fought ever since."

"Your Semblance?" she asked, though she doubted he'd know that either.

"I don't know either. My family had theorized for it to be my odd hyper-sense or something, but nobody really knew since it didn't really explain my fighting style all that much. Sorry." Jaune said, apologizing to her.

Weiss shook her head, "You don't need to apologize. I was simply curious."

"Ah… is it okay to ask why?"

"Yes. I was simply thinking of how you fought similarly to my sister." Weiss said, shrugging.

"Sister huh…" Jaune muttered from behind her, "I see. Anyways, the Beowolves seemed to have stopped following us, should we give chase?"

"I don't see the need. Our mission is to get the relics, not to exterminate the Grimm." Weiss said, looking up as she heard a loud cry. She narrowed her eyes as she stopped walking, "Nevermore?"

"No…" Jaune said from beside her, looking up as well, "Giant Nevermore." they both turned to look at each other. "Should we give chase?"

Weiss nodded, forming a black glyph below them. "It's going Northwest, let's go."

Jaune nodded, before looking down to the glyph below their feet. "So what do I do?"

Weiss smiled, "Just follow me as I jump from one glyph to another." she then looked up just in time to see the Nevermore fly past them. "Let's go." she said, glyph turning white.

Then, they jumped.

* * *

Jaune looked up to the skies momentarily to see the Giant Nevermore still flying away from where they are. He did notice something though, it was heading the right direction, at least according to Weiss. It was heading Northwest. Regardless of that, he looked in front of himself again and saw Weiss jumping from glyph to glyph just ahead of him.

He followed suit of course, not being too far behind, but it still felt weird to him just how easily he was able to do a lot of what he did. Granted, following Weiss' instructions wasn't too hard, and it also helped that he had a generally good sense of balance for all that the glyphs were tilted forward at an angle. They also pulled him towards it and propelled him forward just in time, so there was that too.

There was also another thing about the Giant Nevermore they were following that he found odd. There were passengers above it.

He didn't need to look up to know that Ruby and her sister, Yang, were up there. In fact, if he listened closely he could actually hear a bit of Yang shouting in excitement, it made him smile a bit, even though he really should have been more worried about how the two sisters even found themselves there—much less how they were flying the thing. If they were even flying it, that is, for all he knew, the Nevermore could just be flying towards its nest, ready to eat its passengers.

Yeah no, they had to stop it somehow.

Not that he doubted Yang and Ruby's skills, it's just that dealing with more than half a dozen Nevermores at a time was not an easy task. And he was pretty sure this Nevermore was heading towards its nest.

Then, he saw Weiss pause just ahead of him, standing on a black glyph parallel to the ground, making him look at her as he landed beside her. She looked behind, presumably to the Nevermore that was approaching them, before looking at him with a nod.

"Alright, let's get that Giant Nevermore down, the ruins are just below us." Weiss said, preparing her blade as she spun its canister.

"Wait, there are passengers aboard it."

Weiss blinked at him, before sighing, "Is it those sisters from yesterday?"

"Yes—wait, how do you know that?" Jaune asked, now confused.

"I had a feeling that if anyone was insane enough to do it, it would be them. Regardless, we're bringing that Giant Nevermore down, they weren't authorized to pilot it in the first place."

"I doubt they're piloting it though…"

"It doesn't matter, they didn't register it."

"With who?"

"Are you going to bring it down with me or am I going to have to drop you down to the ground?" Weiss said, brow twitching at him.

Jaune heard the Nevermore cry behind him and decided that it would be best to follow Weiss . "Let's bring it down." he said, grinning at her with a thumbs up.

Weiss just rolled her eyes, "You already know what to do." she said, and he nodded.

They felt the Nevermore get closer, and, just before it could devour them, the glyph below them turned white, propelling them upwards.

Jaune didn't know how, but somehow he'd been able to backflip almost perfectly, high enough that he wasn't even touched by any of the Giant Nevermore's tall feathers. Not until he landed upright, that is.

He felt himself slip for a moment, before his feet got held down to the Nevermore's back, presumably by Weiss' glyphs. He smiled at the surprised looks of the sisters. "Well, girls, sorry to tell you this, but according to my partner, unauthorized use of unregistered Grimm in as a method of transportation is not allowed in this airspace." he said, shrugging as he pointed his sword down the Nevermore's neck. "Now, to bring down this Grimm."

"What did you say?!" Yang shouted from his left, making him sigh as he realized just how they couldn't quite hear him speak normally. He just turned to Weiss and raised a brow at her, waving his sword a bit before pointing down to the Nevermore with it again.

Weiss looked at him and nodded, spinning its canister so that it landed on the light blue dust. "Good luck cutting it's head." she said, Jaune managing to hear her through the wind.

He just laughed, "I'm not cutting it down. I don't really need to." he said, looking over to Ruby who was over to their right. "Hey Ruby! You want to cut this bird's head off?!"

Ruby's eyes widened at that, before she grinned at him, "Yes!"

Jaune smiled, before he felt something was wrong.

They were going down.

His eyes widened and he turned to Weiss who narrowed her eyes at their surroundings. "Weiss!" he called out, getting her attention as she turned to him, "We should get out of here!"

Weiss nodded, and he saw her suddenly point her weapon upwards, placing it in front of herself as she started to glow white. He was about to ask her what she was doing before she spoke, "Go tell the others to jump, and you go as well. I'll deal with this."

Jaune narrowed his eyes, "How?! Weiss we're falling to the ground at high speeds what are you—"

"I won't die. Now go, I'm just going to deal with this Nevermore." Weiss said, closing her eyes and glowing brighter. Jaune just frowned at that, before sighing and shaking his head.

"Yang! Ruby! We need to jump!" he shouted to them, and they turned towards him.

"Wait, what about Weiss?!" Ruby asked, looking at Weiss worriedly,

Jaune grit his teeth, "We don't have time, go!" he said, walking over to them and grabbing them by the arms,

"Jaune!" Ruby shouted at him, gripping his arm tightly, but he simply shook his head as he jumped with both of them being held by him.

"Jaune what the hell are you—?!" Yang couldn't finish her sentence, however as Jaune's eyes widened at what he felt below where they'd just jumped off of.

Much less from what he'd seen.

It was a tall blue glowing armored figure, one which had just finished off the Nevermore, Weiss standing on its shoulder.

Jaune and the sisters landed, and he started to walk towards Weiss, feeling the presence of Aura around the tall knight—one which he undoubtedly knew she summoned due to the Aura he felt within it—start to fade away as Weiss' own presence weakened.

His walk didn't take long to become a sprint, and as Weiss went down to the ground from her summon's shoulders, she stumbled, nearly collapsing as Jaune caught her just in time.

Jaune smiled as she looked up at him with tired eyes, "See… I told you I wouldn't die." Weiss managed to say before she collapsed onto him, head leaning on his chest plate. "I'm just… a bit tired right now…" she mumbled almost sleepily, and he chuckled at this, gently wrapping his hands around her.

"I can fix that." Jaune whispered, closing his eyes as he called onto his soul, feeling it rise up from within him, guiding the flow of it towards Weiss to use his own Aura to amplify her own.

What he didn't expect were the emotions and small traces of memory he'd been able to get from her. He saw a woman that felt familiar to him. Too familiar.

He opened his eyes, releasing Weiss as she watched the small glow of their Auras around each other.

She blinked, looking up at him curiously. "What did you do?"

Jaune smiled, chuckling slightly, "I… supercharged your aura, I guess. Basically amplifying its effects and regeneration by using my own Aura."

Weiss frowned at that, "Amplification…" she said to herself, narrowing her eyes at her hands where the glow started to fade. "So that's what Winter meant by Arc…"

Jaune paused.

Winter.

Why's that so…?

"Hey! You two lovebirds better not just stand there doing nothing as the two of you start to gain some realization or something!" They both turned to the source, and saw Yang shouting at them from a distance with a grin, "As cute as you two look, we could really use some help here!" she said, pointing to a number of other Initiates fighting a Giant Deathstalker.

Jaune and Weiss turned to each other and nodded, before they both walked towards them…

And promptly went straight to the ruins where they could see the relics being held at.

Yang just looked at them, almost dumbfounded, "You guys aren't even going to help?"

Jaune shrugged, "There's no point."

Weiss just took a moment to glance at Yang before turning back to the pedestal and picking relic for her and Jaune. "They've got it handled." she said absently, Jaune turning to see her pick up a white rook piece.

Jaune smiled.

White Rook… that was… nice.

Weird, he almost felt as though it was fitting.

Fitting in all the right… and wrong ways.

* * *

 **A/N: So that's that.**

 **As always, thanks for all the love and support, I'll definitely do my best to make sure that I actually go through with this one because I'm actually rather excited for some of the later scenes in this fic. That being said, on the topic of getting burnt out on fics, yeah I know it's been a huge problem of mine for a long time now, but I'll do my best to make sure that I don't get burnt out on this one so quickly if at all. I'll take some breaks every now and then, probably every weekends or something—maybe even force myself to get used to doing a long chapter per week schedule—but we'll see.**

 **We shall see how far this goes. I might go with a weekly update schedule after this point. Tuesday/Thursday sounds like a good time for this one. Maybe even 4k/6k words per chapter as well...**

 **It all depends on what I feel would work best for me at least.**

 **Let me know what you guys think!**


	4. Distance (1)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 4 - Distance (1)**

* * *

Winter's reflection stared back at herself as she looked down to the dark abyss that was her cup of coffee. Black, just how she liked it.

Just how they'd always shared it.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Maybe the General was right and that she was just far too attached to him, it certainly wouldn't help her much once she's in actual combat with him again.

That is, if she'd even be allowed to fight alongside him.

Though nothing was necessarily holding her back from doing so… it would just put him and everyone else in unnecessary danger if she did… and she didn't want that.

And yet, her heart told a different story.

A small beeping sound caught her ear, and she looked towards her scroll. She opened it up and saw Weiss calling her, making a smile appear on her face. She placed the scroll on the table, making it stand as it faced her, and answered the call.

Weiss' smiling face appeared on the scroll, trees and bushes in the background, and so did her usual greeting. "Good evening Winter!" she said, seemingly more chipper than usual.

"Good evening Weiss." Winter replied, raising a brow at Weiss, "You certainly seem happy."

"I am! Initiation had just finished and our teams had been formed." Weiss nodded, smiling in a way that Winter knew to be her way of grinning.

Winter chuckled at that, "Do tell. Did you get the partner you wanted?" she asked,

Weiss frowned at that for a moment, "Not quite… though I feel as though I had gotten someone better."

Winter blinked, surprised, "Oh? And who is this?" she asked, having a bad feeling.

"I believe you may know of him."

Him. Just from that word alone, Winter already knew what Weiss was about to say.

Yet she still hoped that it wasn't to be the case. The butterfly effect could—

"Jaune Arc. He's my partner and team leader."

Arc. It was… him. Jaune was there in Beacon. She knew that already—but to think that he'd become her sister's partner… no, she can still fix this. There could still be a way for things to—

"Winter?" Weiss said, her voice bringing Winter out of her thoughts. "Are you alright?"

No, she wasn't.

"Yes, I am." Winter said, ignoring the concerned look on Weiss' face. When it didn't seem like her sister was convinced, she sighed, "Yes, Weiss, I'm fine. I had simply been reminded of something."

Of something she'd once lost.

"Does it have something to do with my partner?" Yes it did. "Winter, if—"

"No, Weiss, it doesn't have anything to do with Jaune." Winter said, knowing well that she was lying to herself just as much as she was lying to her sister. "How about your other teammates?" she asked, knowing full well that she was dodging the question. Knowing very well that her sister will catch onto that and notice something wrong.

She'd never pry though. Weiss never did.

Weiss just watched her and sighed, proceeding onwards. "My other teammates are as good as we could ask for, I suppose. Pyrrha Nikos and Blake Belladonna. Speaking of Blake… should we tell her parents?"

Winter narrowed her eyes at that and frowned, "I'd rather not. It's none of our business and I doubt that they don't know of it already. If they don't, then it'd be a shame, but it's none of our business. We've done what we could, Weiss, I'd rather we not pull attention to ourselves anymore than we have."

Weiss considered that, eventually nodding. "I understand. I… I want to ask one more thing, if I may, Winter."

Winter had a bad feeling about this, but she nodded regardless, "Go on."

"When Jaune healed me… I got brief flashes of… something. I'm still not quite sure what it was, but I believe that it was something from his memories." Oh…? "For a moment, I thought I saw you there. Though you looked different, much different…"

"What of it?" Winter asked, watching Weiss look to the side briefly.

"In the past, was Jaune Arc a specialist? His skill and actions… they almost remind me of you. I… I realize that it was improper of me to ask, sorry—"

"Yes. He may have been one." Winter said, nearly flinching as she realized what she'd just said. "Though… the details of it are something I cannot go into. Rest assured, however, that you can trust him. An Arc never goes back on their word, after all." she said, turning down to look at her own reflection in her now cold cup of coffee. "Though… I need to ask you one thing."

"What is it?"

"Don't remind him of me. As much as possible, don't remind him of anything that could lead to me."

"Of course. Is there any particular reason why?"

Winter found herself smiling at that, "Even if I told you, Weiss, you would likely not believe in me. General Ironwood certainly doesn't."

Weiss blinked at that, "I… I see. So I should avoid him as much as possible then?"

Winter scoffed at that, "No, of course not. He'd likely be the only person to really understand you there. Just avoid talking about me to him, like I said. Don't bring up my name either, it might not end well."

"I see. Is that all?"

"Yes. Although… I had nearly forgotten about something."

"What's that?"

"Congratulations, sister. You're now officially a huntress-in-training." Winter said, smiling.

Weiss chuckled at that, "Thank you, Winter. I suppose I should say my goodbyes, wouldn't want to make my teammates worry about me this early, after all."

"And neither should you get on Ms. Goodwitch's bad side. Goodnight Weiss, I love you."

"Good night Winter, I love you too." Weiss said… then the call ended.

Winter found herself staring at her scroll for a few seconds longer than necessary, watching as the screen turned dim.

She heard a small drip.

Eventually, she heard a few more, and only then, did she realize, as she looked at her reflection in the scroll, that somehow, throughout all of that, it had started to rain.

Even though… it never rained in Atlas.

* * *

Weiss had been curious as to the relationship that Jaune and her sister had, going from how Winter had spoken of him, she could imagine that they were quite close. She couldn't tell how close exactly, but from how Winter spoke of him… she'd imagined that they had a rather close bond. Something that could make her sister show such a great deal of emotion… something she'd never seen ever since that one night…

"J S B P? How does that even make Jasper…" Weiss blinked as she turned to Jaune briefly, seeing him deep in thought while looking down to his empty plate. "Would starting with A work? What kind of color thing would we even get from that…"

Weiss couldn't help but smile for a moment, she found it odd, but she finds it quite calming to see her leader, Jaune, think so hard on the most mundane of things. It showed her how simple he seemed, at least in moments like these. She didn't know, but seeing him act in a manner similar to her sister yesterday made her feel odd. Like it was something that wasn't supposed to make sense… even his words on it didn't make much sense, honest as they were.

Still, seeing her leader struggle with such a simple question made her feel as though she had to help him, unnecessary as it may be. "A W B N, Auburn is one of them." she said, taking a bite off her apple and watching as Jaune's eyes widened as he looked at her in wonder.

"Huh… that makes a lot of sense. Wonder why we had to settle for Jasper and not Auburn though, Auburn is closer to a color than Jasper." Jaune said, rubbing his chin in thought.

Weiss raised a brow at this, frowning in thought herself, before she remembered something, "Ah, that's because of how the four Kingdom's Academies work," she started, recalling being taught about this a long time ago. For what, she did not know, but somehow she'd remembered it. "The team names that could be assigned between all the teams that are formed in any of the four academies must not conflict. This also excludes the team names which the higher years are assigned with already, along with some names which official Huntsmen teams use today. At least, those who are still active." she explained, surprised that she'd even still remembered this, but she didn't complain. Knowing that her memories were working in her favor… it was reassuring.

"Huh." Jaune blinked, "That makes sense. Thanks Weiss." he said, smiling, and she nodded at him, smiling as well.

Weiss then looked back to her plate and saw that she had finished eating her food, she then looked around to the rest of her team who were also at the table they were in. Well, her team and that of Ruby's. At the moment they seemed content in amicably talking with one another, personally, she didn't really care for Ruby or her team, and she still doesn't, but she wasn't going to stop Jaune from letting them sit by their table.

"Oooh, looks like Snow Angel over here's already getting to know her Shining Knight rather well…" Weiss' eye twitched at that, of course, she didn't quite appreciate Yang being in their table. It was getting quite difficult to hold herself back against her.

Before she could say anything however, Jaune sighed, "Yang, please." This made her turn towards him, seeing him give Yang a deadpan.

"What's that Ladykiller? You want more? Well if you—"

"Yang." Suddenly, Jaune spoke firmly, seeing his face turn serious, making Yang pause. "Just… please…"

Weiss frowned at this, turning to Yang who frowned and raised her hands up, "Alright, sorry about that." Yang glanced to her, but she didn't know what to say to her either, so she just glanced to Jaune, seeing a distant look take form in his eyes. Weiss turned back to Yang shaking her head, not really sure what happened.

For a few seconds, the table was silent, but Jaune sighed and stood up holding his tray, she looked to him and he gave a strained smile. "I'm going ahead for a bit… I need some time to think, sorry." Weiss frowned at that, and Jaune just averted his gaze from her, before turning around and walking to place the trays and utensils in the disposal area.

Weiss turned to Pyrrha for a moment, who just nodded, and she smiled, before turning around again and following Jaune as he went out of the cafeteria.

She wondered what happened back there, though it was just light teasing from Yang, it seemed that it affected Jaune more than it should have… what word triggered that? Was it snow angel? Shining Knight? Ladykiller?

She couldn't know for sure, and she doubted that she'll even find out what it was for a long while.

Well, from what she'd noticed from his actions, and the way he spoke of certain things… it seemed that there were some things that he did remember, at least instinctually, things which made him pause. Probably things which made him remember of… something.

HIs past, perhaps? But then… what kind of past would he have?

Actually… things didn't add up—Winter said, or rather suggested that she'd known of him before, perhaps even worked with him before… But how? Winter's 21 and Jaune's 17, if he had worked with Winter before, or had been training alongside Winter at some point before… then he would have been around 13 years old. But how?

… Weiss didn't understand it, and she was starting to understand what Winter meant by how she likely wouldn't believe her even if she told the truth.

But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try and understand it in some way at least…

She just hoped that the truth wasn't painful.

Weiss didn't notice it, but as she was following Jaune, they'd ended up going so far that she now found herself following him to the balcony.

As she stood a few feet behind him, Jaune stopping just ahead as he put his hands on the railings.

Only then, did he say something, though he didn't turn around. "Weiss…" Jaune muttered softly, "Have you ever felt being so close to something, yet the closer you go, the farther it gets?"

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry, I took way too long to get this chapter out, a whole lot happened in that time and... yeah. Don't worry though, I'll try to upload some chapters of this again in some reasonably consistent schedule haha.**

 **For all the followers old and new, I'm glad you guys have followed this story honestly, I probably wouldn't have considered continuing this otherwise haha. Still, I think we're going to get to the interesting parts rather soon, but for now, it's just some slight exposition stuff, slight character development and relationship building.**

 **It's going to be fun.**


	5. Distance (2)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 5 - Distance (2)**

* * *

Jaune looked out to the Beacon Academy grounds, watching the different students below walking and talking with each other, some sitting on the benches, and others laying down on the grass in the gardens, or against the trees. Everywhere he looked from above the balcony, he could see students below.

Yet somehow, he felt disconnected from them all.

"I don't feel like I belong here, you know?" Jaune muttered once more, knowing that Weiss would be able to hear him from behind.

The wind blew once more, and Jaune looked up to the sky, the sun was still up high above… there was still time for another class. And enough time too, until they have to go to that class.

The silence reigned over the balcony for a minute, and Jaune closed his eyes, just feeling the world around him. The world that seemed to be at peace, for all that the Grimm plagued it immensely.

"I doubt that it's much different for me, honestly." Weiss suddenly said, making Jaune open his eyes and turn around to her, she was looking to the side, almost distracted. "I know I want to be a Huntress and protect people and yet… and yet being here doesn't feel right for me. It's as though I ought to be somewhere else, swept up in a grand adventure against the evils of the world…" she said, muttering the last sentence in the end, but Jaune heard it all.

And he felt the same.

Weiss continued, "And yet I was led here by… by some call of destiny, I suppose. In many ways, it's something I don't understand very well, but I've come to terms with how there are just more oddities to this world than there are things which make sense, so I don't mind it so much. At least not anymore." She said, turning to him when she finished. She took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment, "As for your other question… Yes, Jaune. I feel it all the time," she opened her eyes and stared down at her hand which she'd opened up, a glyph forming upon it, "Once I'd been able to summon the Arma Gigas, I thought it would be the end of it. I thought that I would finally find myself able to reach where I wanted to be…" a small knight in full armor formed atop the glyph in her hand. "But I didn't." Weiss closed her hand into a fist, and the summoned knight turned to dust—or rather, snowflakes. She then looked at Jaune in the eye, and so did he, a small smile on her face, "And yet… I wasn't frustrated. At least not now. For I realized something…"

Jaune frowned at that, "What did you realize?"

"That, really, it's never about the end goal, it's never about getting there…" Weiss started, hand clasping the locket which she'd worn around her neck. "It's about the journey. It's on how you get there… So don't fret, or, well, don't be too worried. Whatever goal it is… you'll reach it. Enough effort will get you there, after all. And then you'll have another goal afterwards, and it keeps going on, so on and so forth." she ended, waving her hands slightly and looking at Jaune with a small muted smile.

Jaune just watched her, and for all that he should say his gratitude to her words, to talk about what she said… he just noticed something. Something odd and out of place which unsettled him immensely. Unsettled him more than it had any right to.

Weiss Schnee didn't have a scar on her left eye… in fact, she had no scar upon her face.

It was clean, it was perfect… and incredibly unnatural.

Why… why was it making him so uncomfortable?

"Jaune?" Weiss' voice shook him out of his thoughts, and he blinked, seeing her mildly concerned face, "Is everything okay?"

Jaune opened his mouth and hesitated for a moment. Should he…? He shook his head before staring at her intently, "Weiss… was your face always that… perfect?" he asked, and saw her eyes widen momentarily as she stepped back a bit.

"W-what?" Weiss seemed to stammer out, her face going red, "W-Why do you ask?"

Jaune only frowned at that, "No… nevermind. Sorry I asked, I didn't think it would make you uncomfortable." He said, sighing to himself and closing his eyes. "I just—sometimes what I remember contradicts with what I see and I get confused. It's been difficult enough with my family, I didn't think it would affect me here too."

After a few seconds he opened his eyes and saw Weiss walking up to him with a smile, "Well, if there's anyone who can help you here in Beacon, it'll be your partner," she said, offering a hand to him, "Now, shall we make this partnership official?"

Jaune blinked, confused for a moment, before he understood what she meant and laughed, shaking her hand, "Yes, by my word I'll make sure that this partnership works out—for both of us."

After they shook their hands, Weiss nodded, "Then that settles it. So, shall we head to our next class?"

Jaune smiled, "Yeah." They started to walk out of the balcony, and he paused for a moment, "Oh, and uh, thanks a lot, Weiss. For putting up with me and all that."

Weiss turned back to him before chuckling and continuing forward, "It's the least I could do for someone who trusts me."

"Ah… I'm glad." Jaune said, before walking to catch up to her, "So what's our next class again?"

"Combat and Tactics with Professor Goodwitch." Weiss said, pulling up her scroll, "We're not that far from it, thankfully."

"I see, sounds like it's going to be interesting." Jaune said humming as he walked beside her.

"Jaune…" Weiss started, making him look to her with a raised brow, but she just looked down to her scroll, "What you said lately, of my face… did you truly mean it?"

Jaune blinked, "Yeah, of course I did… though it was kind of out of nowhere so sorry about that. I probably—"

"Thank you." she said, and he could see just a hint of red on her cheeks, making him smile in understanding,

Right… he supposed it's easier for her to look at it that way.

He just wondered why he was happy with that reaction.

… things to think about for later, he supposed.

* * *

Weiss sat there in the bleachers, staring once more as Jaune sparred with Pyrrha, Crocea Mors beautifully and masterfully wielded in his hands. She watched as both their blades clashed, smiles on their faces as they disengaged, Jaune wasting no time to go in once more, but as he was halfway to meeting Pyrrha, who just stood with her weapons ready, he retracted his shield and threw it ahead of him, surprising Pyrrha and herself.

Jaune just seemed to grin before dashing in towards Pyrrha, his sword locking against hers and he spoke something, but Weiss wasn't able to hear it from where she was, but she did see what he might have been referring to. The retracted shield that would have served as a sheath bounced off from the walls of the arena and was quickly heading towards Pyrrha's back.

Pyrrha's eyes widened then, but she grinned at him regardless, and just when it seemed that Pyrrha would lose, she disengaged, and Jaune fell forward, making Weiss hold her breath momentarily—until he suddenly jumped forward and threw the retracted shield towards Pyrrha, whose eyes widened as she raised her shield to block it.

Then something unexpected happened, at least, Weiss could safely say that nobody but Jaune expected to happen—the retracted shield turned sheath expanded into a shield once more, pushing the edge of Pyrrha's shield towards her face—which was enough to push her Aura below fifteen percent, signalling Jaune's win as Pyrrha nearly collapsed onto the floor, but Jaune caught her by his hand, a smile on his face as he held her up, saying something which Weiss couldn't hear but Pyrrha smiled and laughed, making her sigh in relief.

"That concludes the match." Professor Goodwitch announced, Weiss turning to focus on her again as she walked up to the arena and looked to Jaune. "Mr. Arc, while that was a wonderfully creative use of your weapon, I'd advise you to refrain from using such tactics in sparring matches due to the possible injuries it may cause."

Jaune laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head as he glanced towards Pyrrha for a moment, before looking back to the professor again, "I'll keep that in mind, ma'am. I just didn't have much of a choice as I was against Pyrrha."

Pyrrha blinked at that, raising a brow at him, Weiss doing the same as she watched them from afar. Professor Goodwitch just frowned, "And why'd you feel the need to use such tactic against Ms. Nikos?" she asked,

Jaune smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, "Well, her semblance kind of left me no choice."

At that, everyone's eyes widened. Pyrrha's semblance? Nobody even knew what that was!

The professor just regarded him with a raised brow, "Oh? That's rather surprising, how did you figure out Ms. Nikos' Semblance?"

Jaune blinked this time, before shrugging, "Crocea Mors was acting weirdly, and the only way for that to happen would be if someone else was controlling it, so I guessed it to be polarity, and in the end I was right. My shield wouldn't have expanded otherwise." he said, smiling.

Professor Goodwitch regarded him with a frown before nodding, "Very well then. You may go back to your seats." both Pyrrha and Jaune nodded before walking back to where Weiss and Blake were.

"You know, you're the first one to find out about my Semblance, Jaune." Pyrrha said, and Jaune raised a brow at that,

"Oh? Sorry about spilling the beans then." he said, laughing awkwardly,

"No, it's fine. You have good senses." Pyrrha said, smiling at him as they both sat down beside their respective partners. "I haven't lost to someone in such a long time however… that was quite fun."

"Was it? I'm glad, I thought you'd have been pissed with my last move there." Jaune said and Pyrrha just shook her head,

"No, it was quite creative, I certainly didn't expect it." Pyrrha said, and Weiss snorted,

"I doubt anyone expected it." Weiss said, looking to both Jaune and Pyrrha, "I was fine with settling for top two, but I might have to settle for top three with the way things are going are here." she sighed, shaking her head at both of them before narrowing her eyes at Blake, "You better not bring any new surprises either, I'm not settling for top four."

Blake just raised a brow at Weiss before scoffing, "I don't intend to hold back." was all she said, making Weiss click her tongue.

Before the situation could escalate, however, Jaune interjected, "Well, I'm happy as long as we do well in academics. Combat classes are whatever as long as we stay in shape, I don't think we'll lose to much of anyone else if we stay with the way we're going, training and sparring as a team and all that."

Weiss looked to Jaune and nodded, she had helped to suggest the team training after all, "Yes. We're breaking more records than we should, and that's a testament to just how strong we are as a team. What's on our next agenda, by the way?" she asked Jaune, wondering what he had planned for them later.

Jaune just chuckled, "We'll be focusing on team synergy later, if we're going to work together then we have to make sure our combat fits that as well, and I think I have just the plan for that."

Weiss hummed at that, nodding, before she could speak, however, her scroll beeped and she opened it up. As she looked at the contents of the message, she frowned, narrowing her eyes slightly.

She'd known the insurgency was bad, but to think it was getting worse in Vale…

The White Fang seemed to be taking action more and more in Vale, and it doesn't seem like their efforts are amounting to much… If that's the case, then what really is their motive here? They're terrorists, but…

"Weiss, are you okay?" she was pulled out of her thoughts by her partner once more, making her look to him, seeing a frown on his face, "You seem distracted."

Weiss turned back to her scroll for a moment before closing it and sighing, "I was just thinking."

"Ah… of what?"

"Family business. It's… it's nothing." Weiss said, glancing to Blake momentarily. She didn't want her to know about this after all, it's not like she knows what happened between Blake and the White Fang. She looked back to Jaune, giving him a look that told him that she'd talk to him about it later.

Jaune continued to frown, but nodded nonetheless, "Okay then. I'm here if you need someone to talk to, okay? We're all here for you, as a team."

Weiss smiled at him. His kindness was… certainly something. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Jaune."

Jaune chuckled, "Don't mention it." and with that, he turned back to Pyrrha, as they continued to talk with one another.

Weiss just turned back to her scroll, closed in her lap… the White Fang were certainly a problem, but what made her suspicious about all this was how Winter didn't seem at all worried.

She'd even predicted this before.

It made her suspicious… for all that Winter was an Atlas Military Specialist, how did she know about so much?

Just what did she really know? And why was she so keen in making sure that Jaune wasn't involved in it?

* * *

 **A/N: Things are going to start to get a bit more fun now that we're here. Hope that you're all enjoying this so far :)**


	6. Distance (3)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 6 - Distance (3)**

* * *

Winter looked at her scroll with a frown. Things were going as planned, which was a much needed change, in her opinion, but she couldn't help but feel as though she was still missing something.

The fact that she was the only one...

She sighed and closed her eyes, reclining back in her seat, before suddenly a knock on the door interrupted her rest, forcing her to open her eyes and look to the door. General Ironwood… what could he want from her?

"Come in, sir." Winter said, watching as the door opened to reveal the General. She crossed her fingers in front of her as she leaned forward onto the table. A pose she'd acquired from her… past, much as she didn't like to admit, he was certainly a rather influential man, with his mannerisms and such… No. Not right now.

General Ironwood simply looked at her with a stoic frown, seemingly trying to gauge her for anything. Anything that was out of place with her… but she knew he wouldn't find any.

She'd been through this enough times to learn how to mask her emotions and thoughts.

For most things, at least.

General Ironwood watched her for a few more seconds before sighing. It seems that he at least knew that trying to read her would go nowhere.

Winter decided to start the conversation, "What brings you here, General?"

General Ironwood just frowned at her, before taking a seat, "I would have expected you to at least salute me, Specialist Schnee."

"You have requested of me to treat you like an equal when we're alone, sir. I could only follow your orders." Winter replied, before looking to the kettle she had and smiling towards the General, "Would you like coffee or tea, sir?" she asked, hoping that the abrupt meeting wasn't so serious.

Though his face seemed to say otherwise. "Winter." There it was. "I've looked through what you've accessed and it's been rather concerning…"

Winter frowned, placing her hands on her table. "What did you wish to speak about, sir? You know that I'm not going to stop anytime soon." she said simply, narrowing her eyes at the General. She had a cycle to end, and she was not going to play around this anymore. "Much as you may not believe me, I have evidence, and it's currently growing as I speak. I can't simply let this go, sir."

General Ironwood sighed, "Winter, I understand, but… is it truly necessary to put so much resources into this?"

Winter looked at Ironwood, closing her eyes for a moment as memories flashed in her eyes. A burning body, a collapsing Kingdom… and the life in those blue eyes fading as her world went black. When she opened her eyes again, she let out a slow breath, looking down to her hands, finding them clenched.

Winter stared at her hands for a few seconds before she spoke again. "My experiences and memories tell me enough, General. I do not intend to see the same thing happen again. Not for the hundredth time. Not for any longer." she said, eyes hardening as she looked up to stare at the General. "I am simply using my own resources here, sir, so it shouldn't be of your concern."

General Ironwood stared back, narrowing his eyes at her. "You seem to have forgotten my position as a General, Winter. I am responsible for the actions of my subordinates, and especially so if it involves the safety of the peace between the Kingdoms."

"Then you have nothing to worry about." Winter said, leaning back on her seat and crossing her arms. "I have remained anonymous in my personal operations. This will have no repercussions for the Atlas Military."

"You know that's not what I care about, Winter." General Ironwood said, lightly glaring at her. "I want to know if you truly believe that what you are doing will help keep the peace between the Kingdoms."

Winter scoffed, "General, with what we're up against, that's a difficult thing to bargain for." she said, smiling at him a bit, "But yes, this will be our best chance, at the very least. Cinder would usually have a plan against these kinds of things… which is why one of the best things against that is the White Fang and Torchwick."

"This Cinder… how are you so sure about her? I understand that it's suspicious enough when Lionheart had been the one to admit her into Haven, but it's not as though that would be the first time." General Ironwood said, crossing his arms. "Are you sure that what you've experienced was real?"

Winter sighed, "I wouldn't do all of this if I wasn't sure, sir." She closed her eyes, remembering of the words her grandfather had said to her. "There is a very peculiar link between the Arc and Schnee bloodline, there always has been for a long time. The world wouldn't pass on if neither bloodlines pass on to continue… that's how it's always been." she recited, opening her eyes as she finished. "My grandfather had told me that when I had told him about this… it's unfortunate that he's no longer with us to share his knowledge on it." Winter said, turning to look out the window, watching as snowflakes fell to the ground.

Moments like these always reminded her of her past memories. And those memories always did hurt her.

General Ironwood spoke up eventually, though she really didn't expect what he said next. "Very well then… Specialist Schnee, I have a new mission for you."

She turned back to face him, standing in attention as he stood up from his seat. "What is it, sir?"

A small smile appeared on his face, making her narrow her eyes slightly, "I'll send you alongside Penny as preparation for the Vytal Festival. Both of you will come with me, in that time, I believe it will be your chance to prove whether or not your belief are correct or not."

Winter's eyes widened at that. This has never happened before—why now? What did she do to change things this way? What did he do?

"Winter." General Ironwood said, making her focus on him once more, "Will you accept?"

Winter closed her eyes and took a small breath for a moment, before nodding as she opened her eyes, saluting at him. "Of course, sir. I shall do my best."

General Ironwood just chuckled and raised a hand at her, making her lower her hand, he smiled widely at her. "You always do your best, Winter."

Winter couldn't help but smile at that. That much was true, at the very least.

* * *

Weiss hummed a small tune as she leaned forward on the balcony, it was one of the songs which she had produced alongside Winter that one time. It was an interesting song, for it seemed to resonate deeply with her desire to have control with her life. It seemed to be the same for Winter, as she had been one to help her in creating it, guiding her in a perfect manner…

Weiss smiled as she recalled that memory, one of her hands going up to the locket on her neck, idly playing with it as she reminisced of a time long past…

Footsteps behind her, knowing the familiar rhythm of her partner's footfalls, it could only be him. She chuckled as she heard Jaune come to a stop just a few feet behind her.

"You don't want to enjoy the view?" Weiss asked, glancing to him for a moment, seeing a smile form on his face.

"The view here is beautiful enough as it is." Jaune said, taking her off guard and making her turn away as she felt her cheeks heat up at that.

He seemed to laugh at that making her sigh, "You're not fair." she muttered, and he walked to stand beside her, leaning forward on the balcony as well.

Not many people really used this balcony, most people preferring to be in the courtyard themselves or in the garden, enjoying the life from there. It was only really her and Jaune who frequently spent time here, seeing as they didn't like to be around other people as much. It was just odd to Weiss, from how one would look at Jaune, he looked like the type of person who would be able to converse with a lot of people really easily—and he was, it just seemed that he found himself detached from the others for some reason.

Some reason which she probably knew already, as she had frequently felt such herself, but one she didn't like to think about.

Not now when she genuinely found herself enjoying his presence.

Weiss sighed, looking down to her hands which she'd dropped down to be just ahead of the railing, dangling there.

A cold wind breezed past them, something which didn't affect either of them in the slightest.

"You feeling okay, Weiss?" Jaune asked in a soft voice, her lips unconsciously turning upwards at his concern.

"I suppose I do now…" Weiss mumbled, looking at the setting sun, signalling the day coming to a close. An inevitable, but ultimately necessary transition.

For a few seconds the only sound heard was that of the students below in the courtyard and the wind breezing past them. Weiss found it odd, it seemed that, from how she felt, Jaune's mere presence beside her made her feel better. She didn't know if it was due to his Aura, his personality… or just who he was. She admired him, in his steadfast dependability and his drive to be better, for all that he may not be perfect…

She… she didn't know—or rather, didn't want to admit to what she felt for him. Especially not with how Winter—

"Weiss…" Jaune suddenly spoke, surprising her, but that wasn't what surprised her the most, she looked down to her right hand, finding it wrapped around his own large ones, feeling his warmth as he held her. "You don't have to force yourself to be alone all the time, you know?" he said, squeezing her hand briefly, with Weiss doing her best to respond to it as well, squeezing his hand. "I understand that you may feel as though you don't belong, that your problems don't matter to us…"

"J-Jaune…" Weiss muttered, closing her eyes as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Weiss…" Jaune sighed for a moment, tracing circles on her hand which he held, "We're a team. More than that—I'm your partner… if I'm able to depend on you if I have a problem… then wouldn't it only make sense for the other way to be the same? I care for you Weiss, we all do. And it honestly hurts to see you suffer alone with me unable to do anything about it."

Weiss closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that were welling up, but Jaune just decided to move his hands around her shoulders, his other hand holding her own, so he could hold her closer to him. Weiss buried her head deeper into his shoulder, just relishing in his warmth. The kind of warmth she missed the most ever since Winter went off to the Atlas Military. But still… he was different, but it wasn't worse, it was almost… deeper. She wanted to go with him, but the scant memories he have of Winter—and the inevitable moment he and Winter meet up… she was scared of that.

She didn't want to know what would happen to her partner by then.

Would he change? Would he be the same? Will he still be her partner?

"Weiss, please, remember this," Jaune started, turning each other so they could face each other, Weiss opened her eyes, as he placed a hand on her cheek, wiping her tears with his finger, she saw that same smile on his face, that smile which promised her that everything will be alright… that nothing would ever change them. And those deep blue eyes… "Weiss. I promise you, and I swear my name to this, I will _never_ leave you. I could never do that to you, you're my partner, and I could never break that." she suddenly decided to wrap her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"Jaune… please, will you stay with me? I don't want to lose you, I don't want to lose my partner… not now… not ever." Weiss said, and she felt his arms wrap around her as well, hugging her softly, rubbing her back in a comforting manner.

"I will, Weiss. I won't ever leave you, and I swear that on the Arc name… you're my partner, after all." Jaune said, comforting her slightly, and she smiled happily at that.

They stayed like this for a few more minutes, before a familiar vibration in her pocket was felt. That vibration—of a message on her scroll—only meant one thing.

Winter sent a message.

She closed her eyes as tears threatened to fall again, hugging him tighter, to which he reciprocated with his own.

"I'm not going anywhere, Weiss." he reassured her, and she couldn't help but feel all sorts of things from that.

Most of all, she wanted to apologize to Winter.

Weiss was given a task from Winter to never talk to Jaune about her…

But she didn't think she could do that any longer.

 _"Winter… I'm sorry."_

* * *

 **A/N: Hey there! Things are starting to happen, and I'm excited for it, but other than that, I just want to thank you guys again for sticking through this story. This honestly started as nothing more than a mere afterthought of a random idea I had. And, there were even time that I wanted to delete this because I just didn't think this was good enough, I still don't think it's good enough, but... I'm pushing through, for you guys.**

 **So thank you, because if it weren't for you guys, this story wouldn't still be here, and I probably wouldn't be able to write this all that well without all your reviews and stuff.**

 **Oh yeah, other than that sappy stuff, I might take a bit of a small break from posting this story, just so I can truly assess if I'm doing stuff right and so I can have some time to build up a backlog so you guys don't get random updates at random times xD. Expect this to come back at around... January or February? If you want to check out my profile for other stories, please do so! Also join my discord server if you want to see stuff as I write them and all that.**

 **So yeah! Join my discord server if you want to see this early, or if you just want to talk to me about random stuff or some story ideas that I might consider doing lol. Here's the link to the discord: discord. gg/zhn7zr7**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed it! Also any and all reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

 **Replying to Reviews:**

 **hypernova2718: You're not that far off actually, it'll probably be clear already from this chapter alone, so yeah, you're right, it's not the usual time travel either. It's a bit complicated, really xD**

 **drbakerarcho2008: Pretty much spot on actually. Though the time travel part is a bit more complicated than that :)**

 **Malfe: Damn, that's some pretty high praise for something like this, haha, thanks!**

 **The 10th Wand: Not exactly, think of it as more of a... well, it's actually in the chapter itself so... yeah.**

 **Malgrath: Haha, I'm glad you're hooked then. I hope to do well on that expectation. :D**


	7. Construction (1)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 7 - Construction (1)**

* * *

Jaune blinked as he stared down at the stack of papers before him, he frowned, it was the weekly leader's team assessment forms... It was always quite annoying to have to get through all of these, in his opinion, seeing as he always had to write down so much stuff about his team. Well, it wasn't really the amount of workload that was the problem, nor was it the fact that he had to assess his teammates properly—it was more of the fact that he had to write down so many things... And he was a slow writer. It really did not do well in aiding him in managing his time.

"Ah, the Team Assessment forms, would you like some help with that, Jaune?" But thankfully, his ever supportive and helpful teammate, Weiss, bless her, was there to assist him. He looked up from the table and smiled at her, seeing her with a cup of coffee in each hand. She didn't even ask, nor did she need to, as she placed down the other cup on the table and sat beside him, placing her cup down as well. "There seems to be more than usual, is this in preparation for the Vytal Festival?"

"That could only be my guess." Jaune answered, taking a sip from the cup beside him and then looking through the stack of papers. "Team Assessment form… Combat Assessment form… ah, there, it seems to be individual combat assessment forms. I'd printed out one copy for each of us in our team, it seems to have the same requirement of being handwritten only, so I'll have to pass these to the rest of the team and have them work on these…" he said, nodding to himself, "Well, that's it for the new stuff, it seems, barring the Vytal Festival Sign Up Form, but that one's rather simple to fill out."

"Indeed. Shall we begin then? We have quite a bit to get through after all." Weiss asked, and Jaune chuckled, nodding at her with a smile,

"Sure, I just feel like I'm slowing things down as always by trying to write some of the things down as well, you're so much faster at writing this stuff than I am, after all."

"No, you definitely aren't. You're quite vital in making sure this goes as quickly as possible, if you think about it. That and with the amount of things that we have to write down, it's much easier if there were two people working on it than just one, right?"

"Yeah, that's true… doesn't excuse my horrible handwriting much though." Jaune murmured to himself, but Weiss still heard it,

"Not true. Your handwriting is definitely readable, and it has gotten better over the many times we've done this. You've also improved with your writing speed as well, so don't even try to sell yourself short since your accomplishments are very clear. That, and reading what you have to say about our team's combat abilities is always an interesting way to reflect on our team's progress." Weiss said, quick to rebut him.

"Ah... you flatter me too much, Weiss... I'm glad you think that way however, it means a lot." Jaune said, smiling at her, Weiss reciprocating it,

"Too much? I'm not even trying, Jaune." She said with a smirk.

Jaune laughed at that, shaking his head as he got to work shuffling the papers around for both of them to work on, but being stopped by Weiss' hands as she began to do it instead, "Come on, I'd feel guilty if you just kept on flattering me like that. That, and probably be very confused."

Weiss paused, turning to look at him with a small smile, "Oh? Why would you be confused?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head as he smiled awkwardly, "Well... I... no, it's—it's not—you're just messing with me now aren't you?" He sighed and shook his head, "Let's get started on this." He said, as he picked up the pen and began to work on the papers on his side of the table, Weiss doing the same as well on her side of the table.

A few hours of silence and a few words exchanged over clarifying the things they were writing, and they were done. Jaune yawned as he leaned back on his seat, looking around the student's lounge, still mostly empty.

Weird though, most people should have known of this lounge right? He knew there were two large ones over at the Academy Complex, but there also were a few other ones here at the dormitories... Maybe people just didn't know about these ones? Either that or they just liked to go straight to their dormitories most of the time...

He didn't really know, but he did know why he and Weiss liked to choose this place to work on their school requirements and such, it was spacious, had some large tables, and was also very quiet due to the lack of people. Jaune looked out the small window above them and saw the moon high above them...

It was already that late huh?

"I didn't think it'd take that long to get through all of this..." Jaune said, mostly to himself, as he looked over the large stack of papers in front of them. "I honestly thought we'd have ran out of paper at some point." he said, laughing.

"That would have been annoying, but at the very least, we're done with it now... well, most of it. There's still the individual forms we have to give to Blake and Pyrrha. But other than that, we should be good." Weiss said, letting out a long sigh as she slumped onto the table, resting her head on her hands as she looked over to him.

Jaune just smiled, "You're tired?"

"A bit. But I mostly just want to take a break, take a walk around outside or something..."

"Or something." Jaune repeated, laughing as she glared at him, "Okay, I get it you're tired. Let's just get these papers back to the dorm room then we'll go take a walk outside." he said, picking up most of the stack of papers, and walking towards their dorm room, which was luckily not that far from the lounge.

Weiss groaned, "Fine..." she mumbled, getting up and picking up what was left after she'd cleaned up their table, then following Jaune towards their room.

When they got into the room, with Weiss opening the door for them both as Jaune was occupied with a whole lot of paper in his arms, they saw Pyrrha asleep and Blake still awake, reading some book of hers with some small light to illuminate her book.

Jaune felt a bit amused, seeing as she was still trying to show that she was a human rather than a faunus. What Blake didn't know was that he'd already actually caught her reading in the darkness before and knew she was a faunus even before Initiation. Aura has some interesting properties, when applied the right way after all.

Still, Jaune smiled, "Hey Blake, you still up reading that book?" he asked as he put down the papers on the small desk besides their dresser and began to sort the papers into the different envelopes he'd pulled out from one of the cabinets.

"Hm? Oh, yes. It's been interesting so far, and yes, you were right, this is actually fairly enjoyable. Thank you for the recommendation. Well, that and letting me borrow the book." Blake said, and Jaune nodded, catching a small smile from her, making him smile.

"I'm glad." Jaune said, chuckling a bit, before getting to work on organizing all the papers, Weiss helping him out. As they were near the end, he remembered the other papers, "Ah, right, I'm supposed to give you guys these forms. You can take a look at them in the coming morning, both you and Pyrrha, it's just a few forms on your combat ability so far, evaluating your teammates, all that fun stuff. I'll just place them here in the desk, okay?" he said, turning to Blake who had her attention on him, glancing at the table for a moment. She then nodded, and he smiled, "Good! Thanks Blake—oh, and just tell Pyrrha about it when you can this morning, I might wake up a bit late after all."

Blake snorted at that, smiling, "Of course." she replied, "Is that all?"

"Yes. You can go back to your book as you please."

"Good." Blake then went back to finishing the book he'd given her, a timeless classic of the fantasy genre... one of his favorites, really. The Cycle of Ages. He was glad she was enjoying it, at least now he'd be able to get to know her a little better at least, maybe break down that small barrier she has so she'll be able to work better alongside everyone else in the team.

After all, you can only get so far without trust.

Jaune suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve, making him turn towards Weiss as she looks at him with an almost urgent look, her eyes darting between him, Blake, and the door.

"Ah, right." he muttered, before cleaning up the desk, making sure that everything was organized well enough, and then turned to Blake, "Weiss and I are going to be out for a bit, don't feel the need to wait for us."

Blake just glanced at them for a few seconds before focusing back on the book, "Sure." she answered, uninterested as ever.

Jaune chuckled and shook his head, that was just how she was, he supposed.

He and Weiss then went out of their dorm and out towards the courtyard, a place where they generally liked to sit around at night.

After getting a fair enough distance away from their dorm room, Weiss spoke up, "It still does make me wonder if I'm making the right decisions or not." she said in a small voice.

Jaune glanced at her momentarily with a frown, "That would depend." he said, facing ahead of himself again, "We can never really know if our decisions are right or not until after the fact. Best we can do is just try our best to decide well and hope that it'll all work out in the end… That's just life."

Weiss sighed, making Jaune realize that there may be more to her words than he'd thought—-which, to be fair, was a common occurrence—-regardless, she continued, "That's true, but with how things are with the White Fang… and with the SDC in the coming days… I'm not sure if I'll be fine, to be honest."

Jaune frowned at this, before patting her shoulder, "Don't worry Weiss, I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, I'm here to support you as I always will do."

Weiss blinked before smiling at him. "Thank you."

Jaune nodded and they paused as they reached the courtyard.

They both looked up to the statue... the Valor of Beacon. Reminding them of the things which they are tasked to uphold with their lives...

Reminding them that they are the Huntsmen and Huntresses of this new age.

"It's a lot to uphold, isn't it?" Weiss said,

Jaune chuckled, "Certainly is."

"I... I don't imagine it's much different... f-for you, I mean. I lost my thought there." Weiss said, stumbling on her words momentarily. Jaune wondered what caused it to happen...

Regardless, "Pretty much. I doubt it's much compared to you, but I do have a whole line of Huntsmen and Huntresses to live up to. Huntsmen and Huntresses barely anybody remembers today, that is." he muttered the last sentence, looking down to Crocea Mors. "Somehow, through some... awakening of sorts, I just managed to fit the bill to continue the family tradition. I'd always wished for this moment, but now that I'm here... it makes me wonder, am I really enough for this?"

There was a pause, as a breeze passed by both of them.

Jaune closed his eyes, feeling his Aura's presence within him... his Soul... at least, it should have been—why does it feel so... foreign? Even until now?

He didn't know.

"I don't know, well, nobody knows. I suppose we'll have to find out ourselves. All I know is that all we can do is keep trying. You've told me this, before, you know?"

"Yeah... I did." Jaune smiled, opening his eyes as he looked up to the sky, the moon shining brightly above them.

As the crescent moon shone down upon him, a chord struck in him—something that made him remember an important thing Weiss had said before.

"Weiss." Jaune started, hands shaking as he turned to look at her.

Weiss blinked as she turned to him, "Yes?"

"What you said before, of your sister—Winter, was it?"

Weiss' eyes widened momentarily before she nodded and focused her eyes on him, "Yes, what is it? Did you remember something?"

"Publicly, she's always been known as Winter Schnee?" Jaune asked, hands on Weiss' shoulders now as he looked desperately at her,

Weiss blinked at this, looking surprised, before quickly answering, "Yes, she always has been. Why—Jaune!"

Jaune fell to his knees, head hung down in front of Weiss, "Why..."

"Jaune, are you okay?! What is it?!" Weiss said quickly, kneeling in front of him as she placed her hands on his shoulder.

"I don't get it, Weiss..." Jaune muttered, "Why do I only remember a woman named Winter Arc-Schnee?"

* * *

 **A/N: Urgh, this is actually quite stressful. This is one of the chapters that kind of made me want to give up on this story, really it was, but I didn't. Alongside that, I wish I could remove this, but I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't remove any chapter I wrote unless it's just absolutely horrible and doesn't add much of anything at all... but this isn't that, and now we're transitioning over to a bit of a different pace. Expect to not see our two main leads for a bit for the next few chapters, there's much to do and see.**

 **I hope you guys at least enjoyed this somewhat, tell me what you think, if this kind of style is a bit jarring or slow, all that stuff. Still, I'm glad there are a lot of people who love this story, as this is quite honestly one of my favorite ones to ever write for. Thank you for your continued support and I hope that I may be able to live up to that! :)**


	8. Construction (2)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 8 - Construction** (2)

* * *

 **A/N: Well then... guess I'm not really dead, life just got me really busy, what with college and all that. Anyways, I might as well work to finish this story, so... here you guys go.**

* * *

Winter looked up to the sky, a crescent moon shining brightly upon them. It was odd, for a crescent moon to shine down so much light, but it always did so at this day.

Or, rather, this night.

"Um, Specialist Winter, may I ask something?" the innocent voice of Penny Polendina, the android girl with Aura, reached her ears, and Winter turned to her.

"You may." she replied, resisting the brief urge of speaking to her in a less formal tone. This wasn't her. This wasn't the Penny she knew. She had to remind herself that.

"I've been detecting negative emotions coming from you since we've arrived in Vale. Is there something wrong, Specialist Winter?" Penny asked, tilting her head in that innocent manner of hers.

Winter couldn't help the sad and forlorn smile that came onto her face at that question, "Yes, but… it's rather personal. Sorry Penny."

Penny just shook her head with a bright smile, "No, it's fine Specialist Winter. I understand that it's hard to open up personal information to someone who you aren't familiar with. So, I'll do my best so that we may become more familiar with each other, then I can help you!"

Despite herself, Winter chuckled, "That's good to know." Penny Polendina… one of her dearest friends, and one who she couldn't help but admit had felt more like her sister at the many times she was with her. It had been one of the most painful things, to see the many struggles that Penny had gone through in the many times she'd suffered for her, and for her friends… It was almost like watching a bright light suddenly flicker and die.

She hated her memories sometimes, forcing her to remember all of this…

"Specialist Winter… are you okay? You look sad…" Penny asked, frowning as she observed her.

Winter shook her head, taking a breath for a moment, "I'm fine, it's nothing." she sighed, looking over to her watch and seeing the time, 8:25PM, it was time to move. "Activate combat protocols. We're moving in Penny."

"Affirmative." Penny nodded, her many swords releasing from her back, all of them turning invisible as her eyes turned green. "Enemies spotted at 11 o'clock, all at the docks approximately thirty of them without Aura, two with Aura… and one unaffiliated faunus with Aura."

Winter narrowed her brows. One? She'd expected two. Where was Blake? "Identify the unaffiliated faunus."

"Scanning…" Penny started, looking around for a few seconds, "Sun Wukong, student of Haven Academy, first year Huntsman-in-training, leader of team SSSN."

"Why is he alone…?" Winter muttered to herself before resolving herself and pulling out her dual sabers. "We're going in, cover me, Penny."

"Affirmative, Specialist Schnee."

Then they jumped, dashing through the buildings as they headed to the docks.

Things were already far too different from what she'd expected… all because of him.

Clenching her swords, she moved faster, hoping that, at the very least, she doesn't fuck it up this time.

* * *

Jaune looked up to the crescent moon shining down brightly above the skies. He had a bad feeling, for some reason.

This wasn't the first time either, there were many strange moments where he'd found himself looking up at the shattered moon above, emotions out of place coming to him at those times. He'd never really figured out what caused them, but overtime, he did start to realize that it was a sort of premonition.

Usually, he'd realize that too late. But right now… he felt like something bad would happen if he didn't act.

But on what?

Jaune wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do right now, but considering what had just happened a few minutes ago…

"Jaune." Weiss' voice reached his ears, and he looked down from the moon to her who was sitting beside him. "I… I think I know what happened now, between you and Winter."

Jaune frowned, watching as she stared into her scroll, seemingly looking at her notes on… something. Wait, was that all based around him and Winter? What exactly—

"I remember something Winter had talked to me about once—or rather, something that she'd heard from our grandfather." Weiss started, closing the scroll as she looked forward, Jaune following her gaze to the statue in front of Beacon's courtyard. "There was… a legend. Of bloodlines that would stand the test of time, ever present throughout all the rises and falls of humanity."

Jaune furrowed his brows as he listened to this, why did this sound familiar?

"One, a bloodline that would guard the south, watching over it with countless generations of warriors born of their blood, protecting against the dangerous creatures of darkness. The other, a bloodline which would oversee the north, guiding and controlling the production and procurement of resources from dangerous lands. These two bloodlines were destined to continue watching over Remnant, and neither one of the bloodlines were allowed to perish…" Jaune started to hear a different voice as Weiss continued on with the legend, almost as if a door was slowly opening.

Jaune's vision distorted, the statue fading away, revealing two different people. A reflection, almost…

His eyes widened as he started to recognize the owner of the voice he was hearing for some reason, it—it was—

"A curse, inflicted upon these two bloodlines, never allowed to fade away in time." In front of him, in his vision, he could see Winter, her face no longer blurred by a mist, and her voice… it was clear. "Jaune, you have to remem—" he suddenly stood up, and as he reached out, the vision faded—shattering, almost.

"Jaune?!" Weiss exclaimed suddenly, grabbing his arm as he found himself standing up. "What are you—"

"I think I remember." Jaune said to himself, almost in disbelief, he looked down to his arms and saw himself glowing a bright white. "No… I have to hurry."

He tried to move, but Weiss kept him in place, grabbing firmly onto his arm, "Jaune, what are you doing?!" he turned to her, seeing a myriad of emotions deep in her eyes, worry, confusion, and fear. "What is it? Why do you have to hurry?"

"Weiss, I-I think I'm finally starting to remember." Jaune said to her, holding the hand that was grabbing his arm, "W—We need to go quickly, I have a feeling that Winter may be in danger." he looked up, seeing the crescent moon shine brighter and brighter.

He knew what this feeling was.

It was dread.

* * *

 ** _A Memory (1-1)_**

* * *

 _Jaune Arc thought of the many things he'd expected to encounter when he'd enlisted into the Atlas Military, but this was certainly not one of them._

 _"Attention, squad A3!" upon hearing that loud exclamation, Jaune and his fellow squadmates straightened up, looks like the squad leader was here._

 _A woman stepped to the front, wearing the clean white and gray military uniform, he saw the ribbons and decor around her shoulders. Having heard of the stories from many soldiers, he knew this person to be Lieutenant Winter Schnee. One of the most decorated soldiers so far, alongside being one of the youngest in her ranks._

 _Although… as cheesy as it might have been, Jaune didn't see much of any of that, only instead, seeing just how beautiful she was._

 _He shook that thought away immediately, now was not the time for that, blinking as he focused back on the situation at hand._

 _Winter's gaze fell over the soldiers all around him, landing on him for a moment before continuing on, then, she started to speak. "Today will be one of your first few missions out in the battlefield, it's not going to be as simple or mindless as you think, in fact, it'll be a lot more tense and stressful than you'd be used to. I won't say much as this is a necessary experience for all of you, but… take caution. Your lives will be in danger from here on out. We'll all get out of this alive if you listen to my orders, so be attentive. Is that clear?"_

 _"Sir, yes, sir!" Jaune and the other soldiers shouted at the same time._

 _"Good, then let's move out."_

 _Jaune watched as Winter turned around, prompting them all to follow her as she moved towards the trucks._

 _He let out a short breath, feeling tense. This was finally it. His first mission… Hopefully, his journey won't end too early._

* * *

 _Jaune had a bad feeling about the mission. He wasn't really doubting the intel they had, he just felt like there was something a bit too… expected about this._

 _This in mind, he found himself going towards Lieutenant Winter, gaining her attention as she was looking through a bunch of papers in her desk. She looked up at him with a raised brow, "What is it, Private Arc?"_

 _"Sir, I—"_

 _Winter sighed and rolled her eyes, "Call me ma'am please, it's rather annoying hearing sir all the time."_

 _"Yes." Jaune nodded, pausing for a moment as he collected his thoughts again, "I feel like there's something wrong with the situation so far. It just feels too…"_

 _"Scripted?" Winter asked, smiling as his eyes widened, "You noticed it too?"_

 _"Yeah—I mean, yes ma'am." Jaune said, quickly correcting himself. "It's a bit unnerving, honestly, but I feel like the enemy has more info on us than us on them."_

 _"That is indeed the case, Private Arc." Winter nodded, smiling as she observed him, "And when we're up against something like this, what is the best course of action to take?"_

 _Jaune furrowed his brows, thinking hard, "Play along and try to get as much information on them before attacking."_

 _Winter chuckled, "Close, but, you have the right mindset." she then stood up, staring at him, with their eyes leveled against the other, "Tell me, Private Arc, have you heard of Aura?"_

 _Jaune's eyes widened at that, and his life changed in that moment with his Aura being unlocked by Winter._

* * *

 _"It's quite surprising just how far you've come in a few years, Sergeant Arc." James Ironwood, the General of Atlas Military said as Jaune stepped forward onto the stage for his award, "Following your achievements on your recent missions, and the many lives you've saved, I hereby promote you to the rank of Master Sergeant."_

 _Jaune's eyes widened at that, "S-Sir! T-Thank you, sir…"_

 _The general chuckled, "Don't thank me yet, Mr. Arc, after all, that's not the only promotion you're getting."_

 _"Sir…?" Jaune asked, confused, until he saw Winter walking up to the platform before him and holding a box in her hands. As he started to realize what was happening, he couldn't help but start to cry,_

 _Winter merely smiled, "Congratulations Jaune." she said as she handed over the box to him, "You've earned this."_

 _"Jaune Arc, for the valiant effort you have made in your time in the Atlas Military so far, and your brave dedication and perseverance to serve and protect the people, the council of Atlas has decided to bestow upon you the title of specialist. Congratulations, Specialist Arc." James said, smiling as Jaune struggled to hold back his tears while the soldiers all around them started to cheer and clap._

 _Jaune didn't know how, but… in some way, he'd achieved his dream. He may not have become a Huntsman, but he did become a Specialist… and that was a privilege not many Huntsmen could achieve._

 _Jaune laughed, "Thank you so much, General."_

 _General Ironwood nodded at him and Winter walked up beside him, "Come on, open the box."_

 _Jaune did as she said and couldn't help but smile, white, gray, and gold… The details on the uniform were simply beyond his expectations, even more so the Arc Family Symbol being engraved upon his breast pocket beside the Atlas Military logo._

 _"I honestly don't know what to say at this point." Jaune said honestly, laughing at the absurdity of it all,_

 _Winter placed a hand on her shoulder, "Well then, I look forward to working with you more, Specialist Arc."_

 _Jaune turned to her and smiled, "Same to you, Specialist Schnee."_

 _His first step on his dream becoming a reality… that was_ _here._

* * *

 **A/N: So, it's been like 8 months since the last update, and 1 year since the start of this story... I honestly feel rather bad for leaving this story alone for so long, and even worse for leaving you guys hanging for that long... So, yeah, I guess I'm going to do my best to finish this now. Hopefully it goes well?**

 **Well, anyways, on irl stuff, things have been getting a little easier at least, and things aren't completely hell for me now. That, and I feel a lot better, also I'm finally in college! Yay!**

 **So, there's that. Hopefully the story is still interesting enough for you guys to continue, and I really hope it's not confusing the heck out of you guys at this point.**

 **I'll be working on a few of my other stories as well, not sure what the schedule will be, but it at the very least won't take literal months anymore to get the next chapter. Thank you for supporting the story so far, and I hope you're having a lot of fun with this! Because honestly, I love this story just as much as many of you guys do, this was one of them that have been nagging at my mind whenever I wasn't writing this.**

 **See you on the next chapter where things start to pick up!**


	9. Fracture (1)

**Winter Memories**

 **Chapter 9 - Fracture (1)**

* * *

 **A/N: This was a really long time coming... sorry it took so long.**

* * *

Sun wasn't really sure what he'd gotten himself in this time—but he did know for sure that he was _not_ going to get out of this easily, if at all.

"Well, well, well…" the ever-so-annoying voice of Roman Torchwick reached his ears, making him realize that he _definitely_ should have gotten some help before trying to interrupt this.

Actually, how the hell did they even find him? He was pretty sure that—ah, right. White Fang. Yep, he should have definitely been more careful.

"Looks like this one hasn't quite gotten the memo, huh?" Roman raised a brow at him, looking amused. "Now, monkey boy, mind explaining yourself here?"

"Uhh… I was just curious so I had to take a look?" Sun smiled nervously, he was _definitely_ not getting out of this one wasn't he? Suddenly he caught a bright green light flashing in the corner of his eyes.

"Wrong answer kiddo." Torchwick grinned, but before anything could happen, there was a loud explosion as everyone was blinded, Sun included.

By the time he regained some semblance of perception, he found that he wasn't held by the White Fang and Torchwick at gunpoint anymore… but he _was_ really high up in the air.

Really, _really_ high up.

"W-What the hell?!" he exclaimed but found himself being held by a… girl? Who seemed to be floating? And also had very scary swords floating right next to her…?

"Oh hello, student Sun Wukong of Shade Academy." the orange haired girl smiled, "Please calm down, I am perfectly capable of holding you up after all, so you won't fall to the ground!"

"Y-Yeah! C-Calm down… yeah…!" Sun said with a troubled smile on his face, "Um… what just happened?" he asked as he looked down and saw… a whole lot of unconscious and charred White Fang members and a very tattered Torchwick fighting against some white-haired woman.

"Oh! The battle has just begun, but do not fear! Specialist Winter is very skilled at this! And I'm also here to provide backup in case she needs it!" the incredibly peppy girl explained, a smile on her face the whole time. "Although, I am detecting some unidentified Aura signatures around the area… oh—!"

Suddenly, he was falling.

The girl who was holding him up also seemed to be falling with him, but she looked a bit… different this time. More… gray? He couldn't continue thinking about that, however, as his consciousness faded away.

He really should have been more careful…

* * *

Winter had her brows knit together as she steadily pushed Roman back with her sabers, getting closer and closer to cutting him with her blades. Gods how she hated this man, in fact, he's one of the many reasons why she and Jaune were still stuck in this cursed loop. If she could just cut him down right now…

"What the fuck?!" Torchwick screamed as he grit his bloodied teeth, "Where in the fucking world did you Specialists come from?! This is fucking Vale!" somehow, through all his profanities, he was still managing to fight back against her. This weak body of hers was really getting annoying.

"None of your business, Torchwick." Winter grunted, ducking down to avoid a shot from Torchwick, "Even through all this time, you're still tough to kill…" she clicked her tongue and decided to use her Semblance now. Cinder was going to get here soon—and she'd also have to deal with Neo in the next few seconds so she had to make this quick.

A yellow glyph appeared in her path and she ran through it, infusing her aura with lightning dust through her semblance, time slowing to a crawl for her.

This wasn't going to last for long, however, so she had to make this quick. Sending quick slashes to finish Torchwick off, she headed off towards the person rapidly approaching Penny and Sun.

Three seconds… she wasn't going to make it. But if she used her Semblance again then— _No, Winter. That's suicide._ She shook her head. She was hearing his voice in her head again.

Her Aura was not going to last taking a hit from Neo, much less Cinder, but what other choice did she have?

 _You should retreat, the mission was a failure. Take what we've lost for now, we can't win an uphill battle._

 _But this whole thing is an uphill battle, Jaune!_

 _And you think we're not trying?! Winter… we can't lose any more than this._

 _You're right! We can't! That's why I'm tired of this! I'm sick and tired of—all of this! Over and over again, stuck in an endless loop! Our fucking lives never move forward! Trying again and again to make a different outcome and yet… and yet… And yet it's all for nothing! If we can't do this, Jaune, then tell me, what, in all the Gods' names, can we even do?_

"Jaune…" Winter hardened her grip on her sabers, a tear falling from her eyes, "I'm sorry…"

 _We live, Winter. We live. So that one day… one day, we can fight again._

Resolving herself one last time, she used her semblance to save Penny and Sun from their demise.

Shooting up to the skies, she managed to block Neo's attack once as her blade failed to get to either Penny or Sun. Then, she brought the girl down with her with a drop kick, rebounding off one of her glyphs to amplify the effect. As they were falling to the ground, Neo reversed their places with the hook of her umbrella weapon, and so Winter took the brunt of the force falling down to the ground.

Coughing out blood as she glared at Neo, she reached out for her weapon as a last resort, an effort which was quickly halted with the heel of Neo's boots, making Winter scream out.

So this is it for her… huh.

Her eyes were slowly closing shut as the pain was too much for her to handle.

She tried her damnedest… and yet it still wasn't enough.

It never is.

At least… Jaune can live on this time… right…?

Before she could lose consciousness, however, a bright and warm Aura covered her body and she was in a sea of blue once more—a hand reached out to her, as she was drowning in the sea of nothingness… and she took it.

Winter opened her eyes, staring into an oceanic pair of blue eyes…

They were together again.

Two halves, whole, once more.

"I'm—" Winter started, wanting to apologize but Jaune, who appeared to save her once again, just shook his head.

"I know. You're an idiot, as always." the small sarcastic smile that she commonly saw before was here again. Oh how she missed it dearly. "Didn't I tell you to always bring a team or have a backup, Winter?" the twinkle in his eyes…

It was too much. She cried.

Cried her heart out.

Years… For years, she was alone.

And now…

"I'm not leaving you this time, Winter." he whispered into her hair, as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his embrace, "Not anymore. This time I'm not going to let you go, alright?"

Why was she an idiot?

Why… Why did she always try to do it on her own?

Why did she always want to be alone? When in her heart…

She wanted him to be with her always.

In this broken and tattered cycle… Winter broke down and cried her heart out.

* * *

Jaune looked around the docks and frowned. It was a mess.

Bodies everywhere… many of the White Fang mooks were certainly alive, but the dead bodies still stood out. Neapolitan and Roman Torchwick…

Winter, for all her recklessness, was certainly efficient.

Brutal, yes, but as always, she was efficient… in most of her work.

He sighed, looking up to the sky, seeing a certain airship descending down to the ground. Well, to call it an airship would be to put it lightly. It was a literal Battleship.

The specific one that General Ironwood always boarded in.

As it was descending to the ground, Weiss approached his side, and he glanced at her with a nod. She nodded back twice. Sun and Penny were safe. Somehow.

Mostly thanks to Winter, he supposed. An outcome that was less than ideal, but one he could at least live with. He continued to rub Winter's back as she cried her heart out in his arms, but right now, his mind was a mess.

Like a really huge mess.

At this point, he wasn't even certain of just _who_ he really was.

After a moment, Winter stopped crying and they separated from each other, the Schnee sisters met each other's eyes.

"Weiss…" Winter mumbled, "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"No." Weiss shook her head, "It's fine. I'm more than happy to know that you're safe and sound, really, Winter." she smiled, "I… figured it out just recently. Everything with you two. Just how many times, sister?"

"... Too many." Winter closed her eyes, "I don't even want to count."

Jaune tuned their conversation out as he approached the General who was coming down from his ship, "General Ironwood." he said, and the General nodded.

"I know already, Jaune Arc." Ironwood said, letting out a short breath, "I'm just glad that you were able to make it in time… I certainly almost let one of my most valuable specialists die with how late I was." he frowned, "Though I have to say you…"

"Look younger than expected, I get that a lot. Or at least, I was supposed to get that a lot from the Atlas Military." Jaune sighed, glancing up at the bright and shattered moon, "Things didn't seem to go that way this time…"

"Indeed it hasn't." Ironwood nodded, "I got most of the idea from Winter, and it seems she was right, although… I'm not quite sure what we can do even with all that knowledge."

"We've been through this countless times as well, General, and even I don't know what to do with all that…" Jaune looked straight at Ironwood again, "Guess the best we can hope for right now is to just get through this at some point, no? It's not like there's anything else we can realistically do." he smiled, before glancing around the docks, "Especially not after all this."

"Indeed." Ironwood sighed. "Can you… tell me everything?"

Jaune paused at that, blinking for a bit before frowning, "I would, General… but I don't exactly remember everything yet. It's only been a half hour ago and I don't even know who I really am right now." he looked down to the ground, "Sorry."

"No worries then. It's understandable considering that both you and Winter have likely been through a lot." Ironwood nodded, and Jaune looked up at him again, "... been through far, far too much it seems." the General frowned as he looked at him. Then he nodded to the ship, "You three go back to Beacon. You all need some rest. I'll take care of this for the time being."

"Thank you so much, General."

"No need to thank me, Mr. Arc." Ironwood smiled, "I have to take care of my specialists, after all."

Jaune smiled at that and nodded, and went back to Beacon with Weiss and Winter now in tow.

 _Who is Jaune Arc, really?_

The answer to that question, he still doesn't know.

Even now with his memories back… mostly.

* * *

 **A/N: So yeah, I'm somehow back? Took a bit of a break last year from just... well, writing in general. Only really came back this year, and it wasn't even in fanfics and stuff. Well, I'm back here now at least, this time I have to finish this story, though after taking a break the plan ahead has changed a bit, and this story is going to be much longer than I'd intended it to be. I was thinking of this to be the last/second to the last arc for this story, actually, but now that I'm looking at it from a new perspective, there's far too much stuff I need to wrap up and if I were to end it with my original plan... well, it would be quite unsatisfying.**

 **And so this thing will go on for a bit longer than I had anticipated, but that's just writing for you, I suppose.**

 **Hopefully I haven't lost my touch, though my style may be just a tad different due to the work I've done trying to write more original stuff on other places. Hope the chapter was good! And thank you everyone as always for the reviews, favorites, and follows, they're one of the main reasons I even considered coming back to finish my stuff here haha.**

 **Let's hope not to die this time again yeah?**


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